I am so sad to write this review. I remember doing everything I could to enroll in this class because of all the incredible reviews that I had read over the summer for this professor. I was also anxious about getting into my major and this was the last class I needed. The lectures are quite clear and the homework material is also easy (accounts for 10%). But DANG... The exams were challenging!!!!! The first midterm average was a 65 which is incredibly low compared to the previous years. I did all the practice midterms he offered and those exercises were actually how I learned how to apply the knowledge, but for some reason, Professor made the questions more challenging, and actually, some I had never even seen in the 7 exams he offered were present during the midterm. The second midterm was better and the average was 74. The final exam's average was 73, but I would say that was the most difficult exam. Also, there were a couple of typos which added to the whole anxiousness of the experience. I thought that with Covid, the class would not necessarily be easier but not as challenging as it became. He said that because it's open notes, it had to be more difficult but in my opinion, having notes does not help you if you don't understand how to do the math. This was a math-heavy course that took lots of time to simplify and get to the answer choices. Nonetheless, Mazzocco seems like a kind man who enjoys economics and there were times where I laughed while watching the lectures. Perhaps in a non-remote learning setting, this class will go back to its normal level of difficulty and will be far more enjoyable. Good luck!

Great professor, clear lecture, challenging test during the pandemic but manageable

This class was challenging but I wouldn't blame the difficulty on the professor; I think the material is hard to grasp in general unless you spend hours and hours practicing it. Professor Mazzocco provided practice exams which were helpful, but completing the midterms within the allotted time was difficult - the exams typically consisted of 20-25 questions and were an hour and fifteen minutes long. The exams were open note, however, there wasn't much time to look at them because of how little time you had to solve a large number of lengthy problems. In the class, you're graded based on homework (10%), midterms (30% or 40%) and a final (30% or 50%). If you performed better on the final than you did on the midterms, he dropped your lowest midterm score (there are 2 midterms and one final) and weighed your undropped midterm at a 40% and your final at a 50%. On the other hand, if your final exam score was lower than that of your 2 midterms, he weighed them all at 30%. The class was definitely difficult and it requires you to start preparing at least a week or a week and a half in advanced for the exams because of how much material you need to go over. Overall, professor Mazzocco was a decent lecturer, but it would've been nice if he didn't make the exams significantly harder because they were open-note (considering there was no time to look at your notes!)

Despite all the negative reviews, I think Mazzocco is a decent professor. I don't know what all the a**hole reviews are about because he genuinely wanted us to learn and would always answer questions we had about the material. The only negative thing about him is probably his refusal to accommodate students who had legitimate reasons, often concerning their health, for missing original exam windows. He does have a policy that allows you to drop the lowest of two midterms in the situation that you can't take one, or if you failed one, so that's helpful, but it's still somewhat unfair to students who absolutely couldn't make it. So if you know you can't make the midterm or final exams, I wouldn't take the class.

The workload is pretty light, it's just a weekly problem set of 1-3 questions with 1-5 parts that you have a week to do. There's a total of 8 problem sets and they account for 10% of your final grade. The TA's will pick one question from each problem set and your grade for it is based on that one problem. I found them pretty manageable and easy to complete, and I got 100% for all.

There are two midterms and one final, and the exams were all on CCLE for this quarter. Because they were held online, they were all MCQ, with two "essay" questions that were more heavily weighted with multiple parts. If you scored lower on the final than on the two midterms, then each exam is worth 30% of your overall grade. If your final is higher than your midterm grade(s), then the lowest midterm is dropped. The final would be worth 50% of your grade in this situation and the higher scoring midterm would account for 40%. You have an hour and fifteen minutes for each midterm and three hours for the final. The only one I didn't have extra time for was the final, but I did answer every question.

The average grade for every exam was a low C (~71-73%), but I always scored above the average. He posts past exams for you to use as study guides, and I completed about 5-10 of those in preparation for each exam. I didn't read the textbook and it isn't really required, so I just followed his slides. I got a 91.5 on the first midterm, 89 on the second, and 84 on the final. I had a raw score of 89.4, but after the class was curved, I had an A (not sure what the actual percentage is). If it helps, my friend had an 84 and got an A- after the curve.

The TA sections aren't mandatory, they just go over questions similar to ones you'd find on the problem sets. I only attended the first section and the review sessions they held prior to an exam. Overall, I think this course was decent, you just have to put a little time and effort in to get a decent grade. I'd definitely take a class with Mazzacco again. I am a decent test-taker though, which is how I think I managed to get an A. If you usually do poorly on tests, I wouldn't recommend him since 90% of your grade is based on the exams.

Super calculus heavy course. Too calculus heavy. Tests are impossible to finish in 75 minutes. 2 midterms and one is dropped. Professor doesn't care what the students think. Weekly problem sets that take about 6 hours just bc you have to figure out how to do it yourself since the professor doesn't show you. DONT TAKE THIS CLASS

This class is difficult. For sure had to put in more work for this class than the other classes I took this quarter. If you do all the problem sets, go to discussion, attend lecture, and study a fair amount you should be fine. I do like his grading system - he will drop one of your worst midterm if you do better on the final, but if you do worse than everything is counted for 30% with a 10% homework grade.

Worst professor ever. Midterm average was below 60 on both and final average in the low 70’s. His lectures were boring and slow. He gave no examples in class that helped with homework assignments. His lack of care during the pandemic was obvious as he did not care about any students complaints of his lack of clarity and helpfulness. Definitely a weeder class that had everyone pulling their hair out. Do yourself a favor, wait a quarter before taking this class if he is teaching.

The lectures are pre-recorded and uploaded on CCLE, and regular lecture time would be used for Q&A. Honestly I'd prefer live lectures even with remote instructions, since when they are pre-recorded I really end up not watching them at all. There are two midterms and one final, all of them doable but a little calculation intensive.

Overall, I'd say ECON 11 focuses more on math rather than Econ. Being able to calculate derivatives, Lagrange, etc., seems be more important than understanding intuitions behind Econ concepts in this class. However all those math stuff are all covered in other math classes (32A, etc.), so if you have previous experiences in those classes there's nothing to worry about- just memorize all those formulas you'll be good to go. Not sure why Econ dept did not make Math 32A pre-req of this class, since the first two weeks basically teaches you how to calculate second derivatives, Lagrange, optimize functions, etc.

I had high hopes for Mazzocco because of all the hype he had about being the best. Because of virtual learning he made the exams significantly harder than previous years for whatever reason. Truly no one would feel confident after the tests. Our average on the first exam was a 65, compared to the previous years that had an average of a 90. The exams always threw crazy curveballs and were insanely hard compared to the practice exams (previous years exams). I think the class would be 100% better if it was in person!! The lectures are very helpful, but the TA sections help the most! Fortunately, the grading scheme is pretty generous in terms of how weighted your exams/problem sets will be!

This class was really difficult for me to understand and I found the tests to be extremely hard. It was partially my fault because I wouldn't pay too much attention during lecture and then cram for the midterm and final. I liked the format, he would upload prerecorded lectures a few days before having live Q & A sessions where you could ask any questions. But I really never went to the Q & A sessions. Discussion was not mandatory but helpful depending on your TA, Victoria was the best in my opinion.